Brush Lettering Practice Sheet - Basic Strokes

It's been a few months since my last lettering post and I realized that it's about time I made another one. After all, I've been trying to get over some fears and be more comfortable sharing my work (mostly in Instagram).

Although I don't consider myself an expert, I feel like it might be helpful to some people if I'd share the tips I've picked up so far. I've already listed some in this post but here are two more:

Learn the basics

Practice, practice, practice

It's a lot easier to write fancy letters and pretty quotes when you break them down into individual strokes. A basic small letter n, for example, is made up of a downward stroke and a curve over stroke.

Continuous practice of each of the basic strokes will help you make your lettering consistent and it will also serve as a foundation for attempting new ways of writing and trying out different pens.

The following are some basic strokes I practice with. Here, I'm showing both straight and angled versions so you can decide for yourself which you prefer to use.

Downward stroke / full pressure stroke

Upward stroke / entrance stroke

Curve under stroke / under turn stroke

Curve over stroke / overturn stroke

Compound stroke / curve over under stroke

Reverse compound stroke / curve under over stroke

Oval stroke

Reverse oval stroke

A good practice word that incorporates some of these strokes is "minimum" as shown here:

This practice sheet has a spacing of 6.5mm with angled guidelines. The first page is for the basic strokes while the second page is for the practice word. Of course, feel free to try other strokes and practice words since the ones I listed today are all just some basic ones.

Next week, I'll share another brush lettering practice sheet but with the alphabet!